How NOT To Use Facebook To Build a Business

Are you using Facebook to attract more leads and customers for your business? Or are you using it in a way that it repels potential customers?

Today I’m sharing how NOT to use Facebook, and the common mistakes that a lot of marketers are making.

Facebook is a very powerful weapon that can be used by any type of business online. There are about 1,5 Billion people, so you’ll never run out of people to talk to.

But the thing is a lot of people are mis-using the most powerful social media that we have. And eventually they quit the business because they haven’t got any results.

So here are some of the most critical things that you should know when marketing your business on Facebook.

1.Don’t EVER promote your company name on your Personal profile. It’s a big no-no simply because personal page is not made to promote business. In fact, Facebook may ban you for doing so, because according to their rules, you’re not allowed to conduct any type of business on your personal page. That’s what a fan page is created for.

Don’t even put a company logo or a cat image as your profile picture, because it’s repelling. I get friend requests from animals or cars all the time, and I always cancel them. You also should have YOUR name on your personal profile. If it’s not there, then people won’t even bother checking you out. I recently had a friend request from someone without their name in it. That’s not how you should brand yourself.

And even if you have a strategy to convert those spammers into your business or program and teach them how to build the business the right way, most of the time they’re not even gonna listen. Those people are very close-minded and they’re not very coachable. Don’t waste your time. There are far more people that are looking for your help.

2.Don’t spam Facebook groups with your product or biz opp links. I do post in groups a lot, but the only thing that I post is content – my blog posts or sometimes videos. And whenever I go to these groups, all I see is sales pages, products, energy drinks promotions. All of that looks desperate. People are just looking for a sale. It’s not called marketing.

Whenever you post in the groups, you have to stand out from everyone else. There’s so much noise in those groups. Content is what’s gonna help you do that. I’ve tested that myself, and I have people approaching me via those groups after seeing my blog posts. That’s what content can do for you.

3.Here’s something that I noticed people doing several days ago (I’m sure they’ve done it before). People are posting on their timeline for people to comment if it’s okay that they tag them in a post with their product offer. And if they purchase that’s great, if not – no big deal. I mean, seriously? That’s insane. That’s not what marketing is about. That’s a desperate call for a sale.

4.Don’t post on people’s Facebook timeline with your product or business pitch. I recently had a lady doing that. My wall is opened, and anyone can post, but when it’s a product pitch, I remove that. I don’t wanna have that on my wall. And neither do you.

And here’s the funny thing – she posted TWICE! That’s really desperate. Facebook is about networking with people, and building relationships, not about posting offers to your friends’ walls your business stuff. That’s very repelling. And especially if you’ve never talked to that person before and haven’t developed relationships, that’s not the right thing to do. That’s actually never the right thing to do.

Whenever people post like this, they’re probably are hoping that my friends will see that and will buy the stuff. But no! They won’t, they’ll consider it as a non-professional pitch.

5.Never create a Facebook fan page for the sakes of promoting your company name. I’ve done that myself, and it didn’t get me anywhere. Your company is already branded. You have to get YOUR name out there, and give people a reason to work with YOU over everyone else. What happens if your company goes out of business? And you’ve put all the effort into promoting it. So then you need to start over.

I’ve talked to some people who created fan page with their company names in it, and they were even doing likes ad campaigns. I would NEVER EVER spend a dime on advertising for promoting my company name. I would rather invest into traffic to build my list of subscribers. Investing into driving traffic to your company name is a waste of money, in my opinion. Brand YOU. Promote YOUR name. Give people a reason to work with YOU.

Watch the video below where I share how not to use Facebook for business in more details.

Thanks for sharing. This is very invaluable content and I see people making these mistakes all the time when they begin launching their social media strategy. I will definitely share and pass this on to others.

I love this article and it is very helpful for anyone not know what the SHOULDN’T do. I personally have my setting where no post can appear on my FB wall without my approval and think everyone should or you who knows what you will find when you log in. Thanks for sharing a great post!

Its amazing how far we have come. I remember when I used to do most of these things and I wondered why my account wasn’t ringing with dynamic dollars. These are indeed awesome tips on how not to use facebook.

Keep sharing the value Jelena coz many out there need to learn this and hopefully the statistics will improve from 97/3{f3c65145988e2e59c83e583cebd868b487b41a6223d103cb7159bbb31ea456e1}

These tips on how to not use Facebook are just terrific Jelena. So many don’t know and then of course there are those who know but don’t care, but at least you did your part of trying to warn them. Hadn’t seen the ones where others are asking to tag you in their business venture posts with links..that’s just common sense that the answer would be HECK NO! Haha! Such stupidity, it’s a shame. Anyway, thank you for showing others the right way to market in order to help. You ROCK and we appreciate you! 🙂